“I like having my freedom, Bosco. I’m not going to let you take it away from me.”
“Let me remind you that the only reason you have any freedom is because of me.” I stepped closer to her and hooked my arm around her waist. Even though she was angry with me, she never pushed away my touch. I knew that her anger only ran so deep, that she wanted me even if she wouldn’t say it. “I could have kept walking, and you would be worse than dead right now.”
“Only because you owed Griffin a favor—”
“Doesn’t fucking matter.” I grabbed the back of her neck and kept her gaze focused on me.
She didn’t push me away.
“I was there that night. I was the one who saved you. You owe me, and we both know it.”
Both of her eyebrows rose. “All I owe you is a thank you. I will not be your bitch, Bosco. I will never submit to a man as long as I live. Any man who has to ask for it is inherently weak.”
My cock nearly burst out of my jeans because of that comment. I loved the fire in her eyes, the way she mouthed off to an opponent twice her size. I loved the way she cared so much about her dignity. I loved the way she didn’t melt in my hands like the others did. She was better than that, smarter than that. A woman who didn’t put up with bullshit was a very special kind of woman. “I wasn’t asking, Beautiful.”
“Seemed like it.”
Just to prove how much power I had over her, I leaned in and kissed her.
She didn’t kiss me back right away, her form of resistance, but slowly, her lips started to move and she even gave me her tongue.
I pulled her closer to me and made out with her right at the bar, proving my point a million times over. She could be angry with me all she wanted, but nothing I did would change what we had. We were like a plug and an outlet—we went together perfectly and created electricity.
I ended the kiss and stared at her, seeing the anger disappear from her face. “Will you listen to me now?”
“I’ve never been a very good listener.”
My hand moved under the fall of her hair, and I let her feel my length as I pressed it against her, reminding her that this was the only cock she wanted inside her that night. “I want you to give me a chance.”
“A chance for what?” she asked, genuinely bewildered by the question.
“A chance like you give these losers.”
Her eyes narrowed once more, still not following my logic.
“I want a chance to be something more. I don’t know what exactly, but I want something. Anything.”
“Bosco, you aren’t the kind of man I’m looking for.”
“What?” I asked. “Powerful? Rich? Good in bed? You want an average guy who can give you an average life? You would rather have someone like Pietro than someone like me?” I refused to believe any woman would pick the latter.
“Where is this coming from?” she asked. “Everything seemed fine the other day, and now you’re asking for something completely different than what we talked about.” She stared at me with confusion written on her face.
I never hesitated to tell the truth, so I didn’t hesitate now. “I slept with someone the other night.”
She didn’t react at all.
“She was nothing compared to you.” I held her gaze and kept my arm around her waist, hoping this revelation wouldn’t push her away. But at the same time, I wanted to see pain in her eyes, to know she would be jealous at the thought of me with someone else.
There was no sign of anything I wanted to see.
“It made me realize you’re the only woman I want right now. That’s never happened to me before.”
She finally broke eye contact and looked away, scanning the other people in the bar. My words seemed to make her uncomfortable because she never looked away when I stared her down. She always held her own. “I don’t want to get involved with someone like you.”
“Beautiful, you don’t know me.”
“I want to keep it that way,” she whispered. “That’s the only way this works. I want a good guy.”
“Good guys are overrated.”
“I know what I want.” She lifted her gaze and looked at me again.
“I’m not asking for forever.” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’m just asking for some of you…for a while.”
7
Carmen
I don’t know what I was thinking.
Why did I say yes?
He had a valid point about the guys I’d been seeing. None of them got my blood pumping the way he did. They were definitely average…and a bit boring. None of them made me press my thighs together with desire. None of them made me tense when they walked through the door.